When does Epiphany update?

Epiphany is done! That means that the episodes are all up, and the story has concluded.

Is Epiphany for me?

Epiphany is an overhaul of a work that I did in an Internet blovel about half a decade ago because I was reading a lot of 19th century penny dreadfuls and wanted to try writing one in a blog format. It was a supplement to my main writing work, The Seven Papers, because I was working through some problems related to Book 2’s plot.

Epiphany is now an audio drama with full text transcripts primarily because I wanted to make the constructed language content as easy as possible for everyone. That said, it doesn’t have music introductions or anything fancy.

The audio story has the following elements:

  • Extensive constructed language content, specifically Narahji, Tveshi, and Classical Atarahi.
  • Polytheistic, queer, far-future worldbuilding. I’m most familiar with ancient Mediterranean civilizations, so much of my worldbuilding is informed by that.

If you don’t like Epiphany, no worries! I am just as subjective, and I will confess right now that several hugely popular franchises adapted for television and films are not my faves. Literature is 99.9% personal preference, 0.1% Milton. There are plenty of other amazing works out there for you.

What does it mean that you updated this?

I was in my early 20s when I wrote the first version. Some things have changed.

First, I am a librarian working in a research and teaching institution older than the USA, so I have a firsthand look at how bureaucracy functions from the inside. I did not when I was 22.

Second, I have figuratively done about 6-7 years’ of daydreaming and work into the cultures, constructed languages, and histories of many major cultures on the seven worlds in this epic universe. I even spent 4 months collating all of my worldbuilding notes, standardizing orthographies, and writing plot for my epic cycle.

Epiphany is a necessary part of the overall structure, but the flaws in the work were glaring. At least to me. Maybe not to you.

Besides, look at this io9 article. Rewriting stuff is actually really common. 

What is different in the second edition?

  • Updated orthography.
  • The version of record is now the audio!
  • I’m using a pen name to separate my professional (librarian) and personal (author-ly) publications.
  • Streamlined prose and a bit better structure of plot/journal entry events. Yes, this means some of the sequences have changed. I also got rid of a lot of plot holes. Most of the remaining weirdness in the plot should honestly unsettle you as a reader.

What was the original like?

LOL. Someone reviewed it a few years ago, and le liked it. The eye-openers for me from that review, though, were that (1) I needed to spend a bit more effort clearly articulating that Salus is actually a citizen from a politically elite family who just moves to an area dominated by a different ethnic group and (2) most people are going to exoticize polytheistic cultures and compare them to East/South Asia even when that’s not your authorial intent.

The new version is way, way better and reflects a maturity and gives-few-fucks that only age can bring. As an example, the work uses GNP for everyone now, and I was too much of a coward to do that in the original despite having serious anxiety about collapsing a complex social gender system into he and she. Earlier in this FAQ, I mentioned that I am influenced by close readings of historical pre-Christian Europe and the Mediterranean. I’m a Hellenic Polytheist who grew up in a Neopagan family and am writing in religious systems that are more familiar to me. The new version emphasizes that a bit more.

One of my other influences is the question of how AI and the future of work would impact family structures and what would happen if you made AI about increasing human happiness and not just disrupting x industry.

Otherwise, I do have all of the original content in Scrivener. Don’t worry. I’m a librarian. I back shit up.

I WANT TO GIVE YOU MONEY. Is there a place I can do that?

I don’t have a Patreon, and the types of writing projects I do right now mean that one probably won’t be appropriate for my work for a while — I have a full-time job and spend most of my carved-out creative writing time working on projects that I have prioritized, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for perks.

BUT. You can buy me a coffee instead! You can buy me many coffees if you prefer! Here’s the button where you can do that:

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com
And there you have it.